The Minister for Industry and Science, Ed Husic MP, has thanked and congratulated participants at the Jobs and Skills Summit, which concluded this afternoon.

Minister Husic welcomed the dedication and commitment of attendees over the two days. “Investing in skills will be a crucial ingredient in growing new businesses and strengthening existing ones. It makes good economic sense.

“The spirit of cooperation that you have brought is extremely important, because the country faces challenges ahead that require long-term thinking and we need to tackle them together,” he said.

Minister Husic identified two areas of work on which to focus for his portfolio after productive sessions at summit.

“Straight out of the blocks, we have two pathways to develop. First, we need to deepen the work started on investing in skills development. 

“We’ve seen some great headway here with Atlassian announcing a commitment to a thousand additional jobs in research and development.

“I also want to give special thanks to the ACTU and the Tech Council, who together have formed a platform for further skills development.”

Secondly, Minister Husic said education and training providers, government and industry need to widen the talent pipeline into science and technology jobs to ensure we’re calling on a broad range of skills from across the Australian population.

“For the tech sector, it is vital that it starts to look like modern Australia to unlock value across the economy.”

Minister Husic said: “The Jobs and Skills Summit has been a double success: it has not only managed to bring the country together, but it has set us a formidable timetable of work for us to be getting on with to deliver on our commitments to the Australian people.”

Minister Husic hosted the session on Maximising the Potential of our Industries, which focused on how industry and government can deepen collaboration to build stronger businesses, secure jobs and higher pay in the interests of national wellbeing.

Session panellists were: Professor Sue Gordon, Flinders Caring Futures Institute; Sally-Ann Williams, Cicada Innovations; Matthew Pryor, Tenacious Ventures; and 

Dr Jens Goennemann, Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre.

Media contact: Minister Husic's office 02 6277 7070